Texans coach Bill O’Brien said his team was “juiced up,” ready to avenge a 32-0 blowout road defeat to the Arizona Cardinals last week.

“It’s been a tough (training) camp,” O’Brien said Sunday at NRG Stadium. “They’ve worked extremely hard. To go out and finally reap the rewards of a win, that’s important. That’s a good thing. Whether it counts or doesn’t count in the standings, to me it doesn’t matter. When you go out there to represent the city of Houston and represent the Houston Texans, you’re going out there to win and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Highlights from O’Brien’s press conference:

O’Brien said undrafted rookie linebacker Max Bullough has done a good job learning the Texans’ defensive system and has put himself in position to earn playing time.

O’Brien said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s runs were well-timed, joking the veteran saw the Red Sea part and went through the middle. Most importantly, Fitzpatrick showed strong command of the Texans’ offense and expertly guided the team’s two-minute offense to a touchdown.

“He did a good job. I feel like that’s how he has to play for us,” O’Brien said. “I felt like he played smart, he was comfortable. We had three timeouts on that last drive. When you have three timeouts and over a minute to go in a drive, you can check the ball down the field. They may play a prevent type of coverage and if the back is open, just check it down and let the back gain 10 yards and keep going because you have timeouts. That is a good example of him understanding the situation and being comfortable with our offense.”

The Texans will practice against the Denver Broncos this week similar to how they worked out against the Falcons. The Texans also could rest key starters in Saturday’s game, as they did against Atlanta.

O’Brien crossed paths with Denver QB Peyton Manning during the Pro Bowl and had high praise for the expected future Hall of Famer.

“I’ve been fortunate because I coached Tom Brady and I actually had (Manning) in the Pro Bowl, so I was around him for five, six days in the Pro Bowl,” O’Brien said. “That’s where I got to know him, in that setting. Just a really bright guy. A guy that just absolutely loves football, loves to talk about football, loves to ask you questions about what you do in your system. … The respect that you have for these guys — to play that position at that level for that many years — for those of us in coaching, we know that that is a very, very difficult position to play at such a high level for 16, 17 years. I just have great respect for Peyton.”

Rookie Louis Nix III is on track to play against the Broncos. Right guard Brandon Brooks is making progress but still has work to do and much to catch up on.

Rookie QB Tom Savage was limited in throwing against the Falcons because O’Brien wanted the fourth-round pick to focus on running the offense and not be overloaded.

“We go into the game with a plan. He didn’t know that he was going to go into the game at that point and I wanted to see how he would handle that,” O’Brien said. “Those are hard things, when you’re a rookie and you go in there and it’s a home crowd. … I thought he did for the most part a decent job of just managing that part of it, being able to communicate the play, point out the protection blocking or the run blocking.”

Case Keenum mostly had a solid game, O’Brien said, but is still holding on to the ball too long.

“I felt like (Keenum) moved the team and that was good to see and then Tom (Savage) is still a little bit behind Case,” O’Brien said. “Tom has just got to keep working at it but I think that both guys, they’re fun to coach now. They work hard, they’re smart, they ask good questions, they love to compete. So really at the end of the day, that’s what you’re looking for and then you just want them to be able to go out there and execute the offense and help the team win, so they’re both trying to do that.”

Keshawn Martin is one of the Texans’ most improved players since offseason workouts began, O’Brien said.

O’Brien followed up his first victory by going to his kids’ baseball game. The first-year coach missed mass for the second consecutive week.